Five
missed shots by Rachel Homan in the final
of the Ontario Scotties championship cost
her a return trip to the Tournament of Hearts.
File photo

Two-time
Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Rachel Homan will
be watching this year's tournament from the sidelines
after five bad shots cost her the Ontario championship
on Sunday.

Playing
against fellow Ottawa Curling Club representative Jen
Hanna, Homan was attempting to qualify for her fourth
straight Tournament of Hearts with third Emma Miskew,
second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle.

After
Hanna forced Homan to score a point in the first end,
the Orléans skip was hoping to return the favour
in the second when her attempted last rock takeout came
up short and raised one of Hanna's stones into the rings
instead.

The
miscue allowed Hanna to make a routine draw for three
important points. Homan would fight back with deuces in
the third and fifth ends to take a 5-4 lead into the sixth.

After
forcing Hanna to count a single in the sixth end, Homan
appeared to be in the driver's seat when disaster struck.
Uncharacteristically, Homan came up light on back-to-back
takeout attempts to allow Hanna to steal a pair and go
up 7-5.

Homan's
weight issues continued in the eighth end when she was
light on both of her shots to give up a steal of three,
and for all intent and purposes, the Ontario Scotties
crown.

Team
Homan was able to score a deuce in the ninth to close
the gap to 10-7, but that would be as close as they would
get as Team Hanna ran them out of rocks in the 10th.

The
result was a huge upset considering that Homan had only
lost seven games all season coming into the final, and
Hanna was making a comeback after taking three years off
from the sport.

In
the end it came down to five missed shots by arguably
the top female skip in the country and someone who would
consider even two misses in a game a major rarity .